FEJEE ISLANDS. 35 
and not having room to stretch their limbs, they 
often became so dreadfully cramped as to be 
incapable of moving. 
On this day, another group of islands was 
seen, from whence they observed two large 
canoes in pursuit of them, one of which, by 
three o'clock in the afternoon, had gained upon 
them, and arrived within two miles of the boat, 
when the savages gave up the chase, and re- 
turned to shore. Mr. Bligh concluded, from 
the direction of these tracts of land, that they 
must have been the dangerous Fejee Islands, of 
which there are upwards of two hundred. 
The appearance of these islands, especially of 
the two largest, is generally very beautiful and 
interesting. They are well wooded, and have 
extensive rivers. Comparatively little, however, 
is known respecting the interior : nor would it 
be safe to penetrate into the country without an 
armed party. 
The late Captain H. J. Worth, who visited the 
Fejee islands in the Calypso, in June, 1848, said 
in a report which he sent home, that the group, 
containing, as he heard, a population of 300,000 
inhabitants, might be conveniently divided into 
three parts, the Central, the Windward, and the 
Leeward islands. 
Bligh, in his defenceless state, appears to have 
had a providential escape from the Fejeeans, who 
are not only cunning, cruel, and vindictive, but 
are to be ranked among the vilest and most 
ruthless cannibals. This horrid custom of theirs 
is the more remarkable, as they excel their 
neighbours in talent and ingenuity, of which 
